Praudadevaraya was the greatest ruler of the Sangama Dynasty of Vijaynagar empire. He was the first king of Vijaynagar empire who conquer Ceylon. He ruled 1426- 1446 . He was also called Devaraya II . He took the title GAJABETAGARA means an expert in haunting the elephant.
He wrote the famous Mahanatka Sudhanidhi , a text on music. During his time Kannada literature developed so much. His literary assembly was called Mutyalasla (Palace of Pearls). He conferred the title emperor of poets (KAVISARVABHAUMA) upon Sreenath.
He employed Muslims to train the Vijaynagar cavalry . He also constructed a mosque for Muslims at Humpi .
Who is the greatest king of the Vijayanagara Kingdom?
Many consider Krishnadevaraya as the greatest king of Vijayanagara empire who ruled between 1509-1529 . For he conquered many lands and for his administration capability .
But he left the kingdom more weaker than it probably was by not appointing a proper and capable heir after his death and most of his later days was filled with many defeats and he went into a Depression after the death of his Son and sent his close aid whome he considerd a father figure to dungeon/prison where his eyes were plucked . Leaving the administration in the hands of his son in law Rama raya. Krishnadevaraya died with complete depression and a sense of regret.
Though Aliya Rama Raya was a shrewd adminstrator and capable ruler but his cunningness lead to Bahamani kingdom who were devided to unite and battle against Vijaynagara kingdom which lead to 1556 battle of rakkasa tangadi in raichur destrict ,karnataka. Where Vijaynagara kingdom was anniahalated.
So I would say Prauda devaraya /Deva raya 2 to be the greatest king of Vijayanagara empire.
Deva Raya II (r. 1425–1446 CE)
he was an able administrator, an ambitious warrior and a man of letters. To him goes the credit of authoring well-known works in the (Sobagina Sone and Amaruka) and in the (Mahanataka Sudhanidhi)
Some of the most noted Kannada poets of the medieval period, such as and gained his patronage.
According to the historian Sastri, Deva Raya II had the kannada title Gajabetegara, which literally means "Hunter of elephants", an honorific that explained his addiction to hunting elephants or a metaphor referring to his victories against enemies who were "as strong as elephants".
Deva Raya II extended and held territories up to the Krishna river. According to an account of visiting Persian chronicler , Deva Raya II's empire extended from to , and to the . According to the historians Chopra, Ravindran and Subrahmaniyan, the king maintained a fleet of ships which helped him in his overseas connections.
It was during this time that the explorer Nicolo Conti and Persian chronicler Abdur Razzak arrived in South India. Conti wrote :"the king of Vijayanagar is more powerful than all the other kings in India."
Razzak wrote :"the ear of intelligence had never been informed that there existed anything equal to Vijayanagara in the world and the pupil of eye has never seen a place like it" (on an interesting side note the two explorers also commented on Deva Raya II's large harem in which 4000 queens followed him everywhere he went). Razzaq who was also an ambassador at the court of Deva Raya II wrote:"This prince has in his dominions three hundred ports, each of which is equal to and his territories compromise a space of three months journey.
Both travelers concur that the country was thickly populated with numerous towns and villages. Razzaq wrote:". The troops amount in number to Eleven lakhs (1,100,000)." Razzaq considered Vijayanagara to be one of the most splendid of the cities in the world he had seen.
Describing the city, he wrote: "It is built in such a manner that seven citadels and the same number of walls enclose each other. The seventh fortress, which is placed in the center of the others, occupy an area ten times larger than the market place of the city of Herat".
With regards to the market places he wrote:"the jewelers sell publicly in the baazar pearls, rubies, emeralds and diamonds in this agreeable locality and in the king's palace one sees numerous running streams and canals formed of chiseled stone, polished and smooth
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